25th of September, 2022.
THEME: HOW TO BE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD
LESSON: FOUR
TEXT: Deuteronomy 8:3; Isaiah 30:21; Romans 8:14
MEMORY TRACK:
In our last lesson, we found grace to look at how to avoid falling into ditches that are along the path of believers who have taken the adventure of being led by the Spirit of God. This also does not in any way suggest that there are pitfalls in the paths that the Spirit leads us through, or that there are pitfalls in the paths of God in itself! Rather, it means that because of our limited and unsaved human nature that still exists in our souls, we are prone to and can still make mistakes, even in responding to the leading of the Spirit of God.
Today, by God’s grace, we would be considering two unique expressions of leading of the Spirit, namely, “Objective leading of the Spirit of God”, and “the Subjective leading of the Spirit of God”. These two expressions/manners of leading of the Spirit of God are the two categories of leadings that all the types of leadings of the Spirit of God can be manifested through.
For clarity’s sake, there different types of the leadings of the Spirit of God:
i.Inner Witness (Romans 8:14,16)
ii. Inward Voice (Acts 10:19)
There are two types of Inward voice:
- The voice of our recreated born-again human spirit. Such voices by which our spirit speak to our soul (Psalm
86:14; Psalms 103:1-3 etc); and
- The authoritative voice of the Spirit of God. This is the voice of the Holy Spirit, spoken to our spirit as Believers or in some cases spoken to our souls or physical bodily ears with a witness in our spirit that it is the Holy Spirit speaking (Acts 10:19)
- Spiritual Feelings: such as intuition, impressions, knowing, spiritual emotions (joy, peace, sorrow, love, compassion etc) Romans 5:5.
- Indicators in Our spirits (e.g., checks, hunch, promptings)
Now, all the immediate above (four of them) are different types of the leading of the Spirit of God. All these different types of leadings can and may be used in one of the two manners/expressions of the leadings of The Spirit of God.
Objective Leadings of the Spirit of God
Simply put, they are leadings of the Spirit where the Holy Spirit leads us with our consent, seeking our obedience and cooperation for to come into blessings of things that are within the boundaries of our understandings and our faith, in most cases for THINGS OF THIS PRESENT LIFE.
A believer can be objectively led through any of the four (i-iv) different types of leadings of The Spirit of God. Objective leadings of the Spirit of God are “more prevalent and common around the milk of the Word of God” (this doesn’t mean that those hearing and walking in the light of the MEAT AND STRONG MEAT of the Word of God are not or cannot be objectively led. It just means that objective leadings of the Spirit of God are more common and prevalent at the milk level of God’s gift.
Some Examples of Objective Leadings of The Spirit of God (Isaiah 30:21)
- Philip (Acts 8:26,29)
- Ananias (Acts 9:10-19)
- Peter (Acts 10:19)
- Certain Prophets and Teachers (Acts 13:1-2)
Subjective Leadings of The Spirit of God (Deuteronomy 8:3)
Subjective leadings of the Spirit, as the name implies, are leadings that the soul of one whom is being initiated into the wilderness of Christ is arranged/compelled/guided/dealt-with/subjected into for the purpose of EXPOSING THE LIFE AND NATURE OF SIN THAT IS IN SOUL, to REMOVE AND PURGE THE LIFE AND NATURE OF SIN OUT OF THE SOUL, AND TO CULTURE THE LIFE, WISDOM, WAYS AND LAWS OF GOD INTO THE SOUL (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
Put another way, subjective leadings of the Spirit are leadings unto the salvation of the Soul. Such leadings are initiated by the sovereign power of God, in many cases without seeking the permission of the person/people being led.
Subjective leadings are purely and totally for the purpose of our souls to come to inherit the Life of God, and the things of the World to Come! All the Patriarchs of Hebrews 11 were all led through the Subjective Leadings of The Spirit of God (Hebrew 11:1-2).
In our next lesson, we shall consider Subjective Leadings of the Spirit of God in greater details.